The Paul Pelosi Attack: Top Republican Conspiracy Theorists Shocked by a Violent Republican Conspiracy Theorist

Just in time for Halloween, the right wing is spreading a massive, absurd conspiracy theory about the horrible attack against Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

In this first post, I establish that right-wingers are using the Internet to deny the official account of the assault and to gin up a scandal. Instead of admitting that an unhinged right-wing conspiracy theorist attacked the Pelosi home, they quickly cobbled up the idea that the attacker was Mr. Pelosi’s same-sex lover. Thus, right-wing conspiracy theorists deflect attention from the violent actions of a right-wing conspiracy theorist. Famous conspiracy theorists defended the conspiracy theorist who attacked the Pelosi home. Circling the wagons, never admitting that they could ever be wrong. Indeed, never admitting they could be wrong, even though they are wrong about almost everything connected with the case. Let’s take a look.


What Happened?

The facts as known so far are simple. In the early, dark hours of October 28, 2022, an intruder broke into the home shared by Paul Pelosi and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. He yelled, “Where’s Nancy?” Startled, still in his underwear, Mr. Pelosi outwitted the attacker to make a surreptitious 911 call, during which his coded messages led the dispatcher to send police to the home. Two minutes after the call, police found Mr. Pelosi and the intruder fighting over a hammer, which the intruder wrestled away from the elderly man. The intruder struck Mr. Pelosi in the head, sending him to the hospital with a skull fracture. The police arrested David DePape at the scene. 

The alleged attacker apparently has perpetrated several right-wing conspiracy theories. These include Q Anon conspiracy theories. He has been previously accused of public nudity. He had posted complaints that the January 6 committee was a farce and that COVID is a hoax. He had claimed that global elites “are offering you bribes in exchange for your further enslavement” and he warned of the “great reset.” One presumes that the man suffers from mental health issues. At the same time, similar conspiracy theories circulate at least to some degree in supposedly mainstream Republican sources. In other words, the man seems to have been a right-wing conspiracy theorist. It therefore stands to reason that other conspiracy theorists would want to reorganize the public narrative.

 

The Conspiracy Theorists Leap to the Fore!

Republicans, including some well-known figures, immediately started to question the official accounts in favor of scandalous conspiracy theories. These theories are quickly taking hold in the dark reaches of conservative thought. Let’s look at what various conservatives have posted on Twitter.

D'Souza. For example, documentary filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, a convicted felon (pardoned by President Donald Trump) and notorious conspiracy theorist, put out this tweet on October 29:

“As a movie guy I like to play with weird scenarios to make sense of them. Could the Pelosi situation be a romantic tryst that went awry? Pelosi said, ‘I want you to hammer me,’ or words to that effect, and the other guy took it literally and got to work just as the cops got there.”

In other words, D’Souza asked whether the attacker and the victim were same-sex lovers whose encounter went awry. Did he offer any evidence for this? No. He offered it instead as a “weird scenario.” Notice that he did not actually say that this happened. Instead, he asked a question. Sneaky.

In another tweet, playing on the same-sex lover scenario, D’Souza asked more questions:

“Were Paul Pelosi and his attacker BOTH in their underwear? BOTH holding hammers? And the attacker didn’t strike until AFTER police were on the scene? As a movie-maker, I gotta say this script must be rejected. Nothing about the public account so far makes any sense.”

D’Souza continued to use the conspiracy theorists’ favorite tactic, which is to ask questions rather than to make provably false statements. We’ll talk more about that in later posts. Note, however, that many people are not fully dressed in the middle of the night in their own home. That’s not a basis for a conspiracy.

Williams. D’Souza was far from alone. Terrence K. Williams, a conservative comedian, tweeted out this little gem:

“So let’s get this straight, a man in his underwear manages to elude security cameras, Scale a wall & elude security guards and dogs, breaks into a home without setting an alarm off but was somehow captured with a hammer because of a Wellness check at 2am. Fishy Pelosi Story Right?”

Among other problems, some of which I will get to in later posts, Williams cites the often-repeated but false claim that the Pelosi house is surrounded by a security wall. (As PolitiFact notes, this claim is based on a photo of a different house entirely.) Williams’ sarcastic tone suggests that he finds the official story implausible, although, of course, he offers no evidence whatsoever to refute it.

Gorka. Jumping into the fray, Republican operative Sebastian Gorka asked on October 30:

“So who believes the “official” version of the Pelosi attack?”

On the same day, Gorka added these lovely questions:

“Seriously?

“A gay lover he knew?

“How fast is this story going to be buried??

Notice, again, that Gorka cleverly makes no actual assertions. He offers no evidence that the men knew one another. The claim that they were lovers appears to derive entirely from the fact that Mr. Pelosi doesn’t sleep fully clothed. Instead, Gorka just asks questions. He also added a terrific caveat: if the conspiracy theory is disproven, that doesn’t mean that the conspiracy is false—it only means that someone buried the story.

Price. We aren’t finished. Conservative commentator Greg Price laid the conspiracy theory out with less care and more precision:

“For people not paying attention, the story now is that a nudist in his underwear with a hammer snuck into the Pelosi residence, a Wellness check sent the police there, they knocked on the door, a THIRD person let them in, at which point the man began assaulting Paul Pelosi.”

Persuasive tactics that further posts will examine in more detail include the way Price invites the reader to join the ranks of people who are “paying attention.” His tweet also implies a misunderstanding of the police visit, while making the questionable inference that a third person was present. (Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco District Attorney, emphasized that “there were only two people in the home at the time that the police arrived, Mr. Pelosi and the suspect, there was no third person present.” She also said there was no evidence that the men knew one another.

Musk. Billionaire Elon Musk, who is smart enough to know better, also supported the same-sex lover conspiracy theory. He tweeted to Hillary Clinton, of all people, that:

“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”

Toward that end, Musk cited a news site that is notorious for publishing conspiracy theories. The site in question has since deleted the story. Musk also quickly deleted his tweet, but the damage was done.

Posobiec. In fact, right-wing provocateur Jack Posobiec soon followed up on Musk’s irresponsible tweet:

“Good morning the CEO of Twitter just told Hillary Clinton that Nancy Pelosi’s husband may have been in a drunken dispute with a male prostitute at 2am at their house have a nice day.”

Apparently, Musk needs to be careful what he writes.


Trump, Jr. Not to be outdone, Donald Trump, Jr. retweeted a picture of a hammer and a set of men’s underwear, together with the original caption, 

“Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.”

Trump, Jr. added the note: 

“The internet remains undefeated… Also if you switch out the hammer for a red feather boa you could be Hunter Biden in an instant.”

None of these men are trivial figures. We are looking at Republican opinion leaders. The conspiracy theory has already taken flight. Who needs facts?


How? What in the World Is Going on Here? 

What makes all this bizarre reasoning possible? In subsequent posts, I plan to examine the rhetoric and psychology behind these conspiracy theories. We will see how the conspiracy theorists cite tiny amounts of false or irrelevant evidence to fit a predetermined narrative. The conspiracy theorists’ purpose is to prove the Democrats are bad. Unfortunately, all they prove is that they themselves lack judgment and integrity. Or are they, conspiracy theorists that they are, just trying to defend a fellow conspiracy theorist?

In subsequent posts, I will look at the rhetorical tactics that the conspiracy theorists employ to support their twisted agenda, show why the conspiracy theories are utterly fallacious, and discuss the motives behind the conspiracy theorists’ vile accusations.

What I have established so far is that several Republican thought leaders are inventing a ludicrous conspiracy theory to deflect attention from the facts while trying to make the Pelosi family look scandalous. Such conspiracy theories are incredibly dangerous. It is only a matter of time—and not a lot of time—before these bizarre accusations enter mainstream Republican discourse. These are lies, indeed, but they are not merely lies. The conspiracy theories represent a fully-developed (although obviously inconsistent), squirming, dangerous, dishonest, paranoid worldview. 

We cannot solve our problems if we lie about them. Democrats and Republicans cannot work together unless Republicans show at least some willingness to rejoin the real world. At the same time, we cannot deal with the right-wing threat unless we acknowledge it. This is not fringe stuff. This is Republican ideology. Stay tuned!


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Harpine’s Thoughts about Public Speaking: Speeches about Conspiracies: How Can We Tell Whether a Conspiracy Is Real?

Harpine’s Thoughts about Public Speaking: Incredulity effects: Why don’t mainstream authorities worry about conspiracy theorists?

See my follow-up:

Harpine's Thoughts about Public Speaking: Is There Such a Thing as a Stupid Question? The Attack against Paul Pelosi Led Conspiracy Theorists to Make Bogus Arguments